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I can’t throw away the artwork!

When my daughter hit preschool she started bringing home artwork – scribbles; sculptures made of clay, feathers and drinking straws; abstract paintings. I loved them all and couldn’t bring myself to part with any of them.

Well, two more kids later the artwork started to stack up. Delightful drawings were everywhere. One of my kids brought home three of every project! After I had sorted out those I liked best and foisted some others on unsuspecting relatives I had to face facts – it was time to let some of those beautiful projects go.

To those of us with entrepreneurial minds, those hundreds of ideas and innovations floating around in our heads are a lot like that artwork. Each is beautiful in its own way and it is so hard to let any of them go! But you can’t keep it all – eventually you are lost in a sea of beautiful possibilities, none of them getting done.

To figure how which projects are worth pursuing, apply this test:

Low Impact/High Cost – These are the projects that require huge amounts of time, energy and money and have little impact on your long-term business. Kind of like those weekly fencing lessons for the kids – fun to watch but it’s not going to get them into college.

Low Impact/Low Cost – These projects have little impact but at least they don’t cost much! It’s like the exercise video you bought on sale and used once. Don’t bother.

High Impact/High Cost – These are the things you dream about. The family trip to Hawaii. The backyard pool. High impact but high cost. Worth doing, but make sure you plan – and budget – ahead so you can really implement them.

High Impact/Low Cost – Bingo! You’ve hit the jackpot. It’s the $1 winning lottery ticket. These are the things to focus on first. High impact to the business but relatively easy to implement.

The challenge comes in if you can’t tell which ones are which – if that’s the case, get some help.